In his final public appearance before the 2026 midterm elections, Donald Trump used his closing message to American voters to spotlight an unexpected subject: the renovation of the Lincoln Reflecting Pool. Rather than concentrating on a fiercely contested congressional landscape, where Republican candidates face narrow margins and warnings of a possible “blue wave,” Trump devoted much of his remarks to the Washington landmark.

For about 20 minutes during Monday’s address, Trump walked through the details of the project, one of several renovation efforts he has pursued across the nation’s capital.

He highlighted the pool’s enormous scale, calling it “the largest in the world” and comparing its length to nearly two Empire State Buildings placed side by side. Trump also praised the replacement grass and new topsoil, repeatedly emphasizing what he described as the significance of “re-grassing.”

Trump spent considerable time discussing the precise color selected for the bottom of the pool. He described the shade as “American black-blue,” acknowledging that it was exceptionally dark as he spoke to a small crowd gathered near the podium.

Although he said he personally preferred a lighter blue, Trump argued that a brighter shade would undermine the landmark’s defining purpose. Without the darker color, he said, the water would no longer produce a clear reflection.

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He also revisited claims about damage to the site, blaming what he called vandalism for the peeling surface. Without offering evidence, Trump alleged that vandals had “slashed the hell” out of the pool.

Standing before the freshly repainted, dark blue-black pool, Trump declared the finished renovation “a really beautiful thing.”

He described the landmark as “a work of art in many ways,” while conceding that it had previously been an artwork that failed to function as intended. Now, Trump said, the Reflecting Pool would finally “work.”

The response from the audience, composed mostly of staff members and National Park Service rangers, was restrained, marked by only light applause.

Four school buses parked outside a Brooklyn yeshiva were found covered in swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti Monday morning, according to police.

The hateful symbol and phrases “F–k Jews,” “F–k Israel,” “Free Palestine” and “America First” were scrawled in black spray paint on the buses parked outside the United Talmudical Academy of Williamsburg, according to police and photos posted by Williamsburg News. 

A person connected to the yeshiva, near Bedford Avenue and Williamsburg Street West, discovered the vandalism at about 9:50 a.m. and contacted 911, authorities said.

Several hours later, no arrests had been reported. The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is handling the investigation.

Police had not released a description of a possible suspect.

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The vandalism came fewer than seven days after the same yeshiva was targeted by a bomb threat made over the phone on Oct. 9, officials said.

The call followed a similar threat made just minutes earlier to Yeshivah of Flatbush Joel Braverman High School.

Both schools were evacuated as a precaution while NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers and K9 teams conducted sweeps. No explosives were found, and the buildings were cleared as safe, police said.

The NYPD said last month that reported hate crimes had risen nearly 13% during the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in the previous year. More than half of those cases involved anti-Jewish incidents.

Several people were killed and others injured in an early Monday shooting near a California beach, authorities said.

Deputies and detectives with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of gunfire along Jetty Road in Moss Landing shortly after midnight, the agency said in a news release.

“There are multiple fatalities and casualties confirmed,” the sheriff’s office said.

North County Fire Protection Chief Jess Cortez said emergency crews found two people suffering from gunshot wounds to the chest and a third person with minor injuries, according to FOX 2 KTVU.

The two shooting victims with chest wounds were pronounced dead at the scene. The person with minor injuries was transported to a hospital, Cortez told the station.

Authorities have not released the total number of people killed or injured, and they have not disclosed what prompted the shooting.

At the sheriff’s office’s request, California State Parks Police closed Jetty Road and Moss Landing State Beach while investigators worked at the scene.

“There is no active threat to the Moss Landing Community at this time,” the sheriff’s office said. 

“This is an active investigation, and no further information will be released at this time.”

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office could not immediately be reached for additional comment.

Jessica Alba has removed her Halloween photos after facing criticism for dressing as bloodied figure skating star Nancy Kerrigan.

The 45-year-old actress recreated the infamous 1994 attack alongside her friend Kelly Sawyer, who portrayed skater Tonya Harding.

Although the images disappeared from Alba’s Instagram account, they appeared to remain on Instagram’s sister platform, Threads, as of Monday morning.

Alba copied one of Kerrigan’s most recognizable looks, wearing a lacy white dress, tights and ice skates. The most controversial detail was a bloodied bandage wrapped around her left knee.

Sawyer, 51, wore a glittering maroon dress and carried a baseball bat, emphasizing the violent theme of the costume.

Sawyer is a Canadian-American businesswoman and philanthropist who founded Baby2Baby, a national nonprofit that supplies essential items to children living in poverty.

Alba’s caption also referred to Harding’s mother, LaVona Fay Golden, who was portrayed by Allison Janney in the 2017 biographical dark comedy I, Tonya. Janney won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role.

Harding was never convicted of directly participating in the assault, but she was given a lifetime ban by the US Figure Skating Association.

The baseball bat also differed from the weapon used in the real attack. Shane Stant, who was hired by Harding’s former husband, used a police baton.

The assault took place on January 6, 1994, during the US Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Michigan. Kerrigan, then the reigning national champion, was struck on the lower leg with a telescopic baton.

Footage filmed in the aftermath showed Kerrigan crying on the floor and repeatedly shouting, “Why? Why? Why?” The emotional scene became one of the decade’s most recognizable images.

In recent years, Harding said she learned about a possible plan to attack Kerrigan roughly two months before the 1994 US National Championships.

The disgraced skater said her suspicions began after she overheard a conversation between her then-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and his friend Shawn Eckardt.

Harding has consistently denied planning the attack or suggesting that Gillooly hire Stant to carry out what became known as the “whack heard ’round the world.”

She ultimately reached a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to hinder prosecution.

She was forced to pay a $160,000 fine and sentenced to three years’ probation as well as 500 hours community service.

In a final, devastating blow, Harding was also stripped of her 1994 US Championship and banned for life from the US Figure Skating Association.

Gillooly served two years behind bars and Eckardt 18 months for their role in plotting the attack and hiring the hit man.

The injury ultimately forced Kerrigan to withdraw from the US Championships which Harding won.

However, Kerrigan was able to recover in time for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway where she earned a silver medal in one of the greatest comeback stories in sports.

Kerrigan and Harding have never publicly mended their relationship over three decades after the incident.

Meanwhile, Alba has three children: 18-year-old daughter Honor, 15-year-old daughter Haven and eight-year-old son Hayes.

She shares her kids with ex-husband Cash Warren, whom she was married to from 2008 until their split news came to light in early 2025.

The actress announced her split from Warren in January 2025 following 16 years of marriage. The former couple’s divorce was officially finalized earlier this year in February.

Alba and Warren did not sign a prenup before tying the knot and have agreed not to pay each other alimony.

The pair also share joint custody of their children, per the divorce settlement. Warren will also receive a $3 million payout as part of the division of their assets, with half already being paid to him in February. The other half will be paid in 2027.

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WASHINGTON — In his final midterm election appeal, President Trump touted his administration’s record and targeted Democratic Senate contenders in Alaska and Michigan. Yet much of his speech before the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool centered on planned construction and renovation projects in the nation’s capital.

Trump highlighted falling oil prices, low unemployment, reduced crime and limited illegal immigration. He also revived his promise to send voters $5,000 each if Republicans keep control of Congress, framing the potential payout as a celebration of what he described as America’s “golden age.”

“The Democrats want to blow all of this up by electing communists and jihadists,” Trump said during the afternoon address. “We can’t let that happen. We have to keep our Congress strong, free. A little bit of apple pie.”

The president urged voters to do “the right thing,” while conceding that historical precedent does not favor the party occupying the White House in a midterm year.

“For some reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms, but we gave this a very strong shot,” Trump said, pointing to the 29 rallies he held across the country during the campaign.

His closing argument largely emphasized his national record, with specific attacks reserved for just two Senate races.

Trump portrayed the Democratic ticket as the most extreme and dangerous slate of candidates in U.S. history.

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“There’s never been anything like what we’re seeing: jihadists and Muslim Brotherhood members and people that nobody can even believe what we’re looking at,” he said, accusing them of pursuing an agenda that includes open borders, trillions of dollars in tax increases, gun restrictions, gender-affirming care bans, the elimination of oil and natural gas, sharply higher energy costs and the admission of millions of migrants.

The only Democratic candidate Trump singled out by name was Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan Senate hopeful who, if elected, would become the nation’s first Muslim senator.

Trump alleged that El-Sayed secured a place on the ballot by campaigning for signatures at mosques he described as radical. He claimed those sites had referred to the United States as “the House of Satan,” adding, “We don’t want people that call the United States the House of Satan.”

He also accused Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola of helping recruit a person with the same name as Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan to enter the race.

“In Alaska, the Democrats conspired to get a fake Dan Sullivan on the ballot to confuse voters and run against the real Dan Sullivan,” Trump said.

Trump did not turn to the election until roughly 24 minutes into a speech devoted largely to proposals for renovating or constructing prominent Washington landmarks.

“We have a lot of great things planned for Washington, and I could get into the nation, but for that you don’t have enough time,” he told the crowd.

Dramatic body-camera footage captures the deadly confrontation between Newport police officers and a man suspected of stealing a boat in Newport, Rhode Island.

The Newport Police Department released the video Friday, several weeks after the August shooting.

Officers responded on Aug. 26 to a report of a stolen sailboat in Newport Harbor. According to police, the suspect began firing just seconds after officers reached the vessel.

Police returned fire. In his body-camera audio, one officer can be heard repeatedly reporting that he had been shot in the leg.

The suspect was ultimately shot and pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators said the sailboat appeared to be the Pathfinder, a vessel reported stolen from Liberty Harbor Marina in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Police confirmed to News Media that Brendan Norris, 27, is the man suspected of taking the boat from the New Jersey marina and traveling with it to Rhode Island.

News Media contacted the Newport Police Department for additional information.

After the boat disappeared, individuals who said they were friends of its owner posted appeals on social media in August, urging the public to watch for the missing vessel. The boat was described as a “2 masted Yawl Hinckley Bermuda 40,” according to the post.

In a statement accompanying the release, the department said its purpose was to give the public and media “an accurate, factual, and transparent presentation of the incident,” helping viewers understand the circumstances surrounding the officers’ actions.

The Newport Police Department said Rhode Island State Police are assisting with a joint investigation into the shooting.